Why run a tuner?

[Mad Max]

Is that your ONLY mod so far?

Yes, only drivetrain mod is the SCT Livewire and a K&N airfilter.

 

[Perauto]

I laugh every time I see a thread that the members say just return it to stock and take it to the dealer..NOT TRUE.
I own a company who does performance tuning on GM and Ford vehicles. [performance autosport] The first thing we tell our customers is tuning will VOID your Warranty. Even if the Vehicle is returned to stock the dealer tech can tell it has been flashed and will flag the car,If the dealer has any doughs there are several tests that can be done to see if the ECU has been altered.
People will also quote the Magnuson warranty act about the manufacture proving the damage but who has the time or money to fight them,plus it is clearly specified that a tune will void the warranty in the owners booklet.
IMO a tune is great for performance and if the warranty is not an issue than do it,but do not think you can get anything by the dealers these days ,the first time your truck is plugged in to the Ford laptop the first screen the tech sees is that the truck has been modded and when that laptop is updated by Ford all that info goes directly to there data base and your done.
Any major or minor repairs must be approved by the Ford warranty people and a rep will be sent out to look over the vehicle for any major repairs,the dealer is NOT the decision maker and if they fix it with out telling Ford first ,then the claim is denied.

All of my personal and shop vehicles are 100% stock with no ECU mods for that reason,if I wanted a fast vehicle I would not have bought a Raptor,I love my tuck but love the Warranty more.

 

[Bulletnjm]

The main reason for returning to stock is incase the dealer re flashes the ecu to stock. If they do that you need to pay to have your tuner unlocked.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

I laugh every time I see a thread that the members say just return it to stock and take it to the dealer..NOT TRUE.
I own a company who does performance tuning on GM and Ford vehicles. [performance autosport] The first thing we tell our customers is tuning will VOID your Warranty. Even if the Vehicle is returned to stock the dealer tech can tell it has been flashed and will flag the car,If the dealer has any doughs there are several tests that can be done to see if the ECU has been altered.
People will also quote the Magnuson warranty act about the manufacture proving the damage but who has the time or money to fight them,plus it is clearly specified that a tune will void the warranty in the owners booklet.
IMO a tune is great for performance and if the warranty is not an issue than do it,but do not think you can get anything by the dealers these days ,the first time your truck is plugged in to the Ford laptop the first screen the tech sees is that the truck has been modded and when that laptop is updated by Ford all that info goes directly to there data base and your done.
Any major or minor repairs must be approved by the Ford warranty people and a rep will be sent out to look over the vehicle for any major repairs,the dealer is NOT the decision maker and if they fix it with out telling Ford first ,then the claim is denied.

All of my personal and shop vehicles are 100% stock with no ECU mods for that reason,if I wanted a fast vehicle I would not have bought a Raptor,I love my tuck but love the Warranty more.

So if you run a tune say from 5k miles to 15k miles (just 10k miles) then go back to stock and never tune it again then say at 55k miles you have some issue, that mod tune will still show up? So once you tune it just ONCE even for a few minutes then you are done?

 

[Perauto]

If the truck was tuned at 5K then returned to stock ,Ford can still see in the history and other places that it was once modified but the good thing is they can also see that it was modified and returned to stock then driven 50K after that ,so the chance of a tune messing up your truck would be real hard for them to prove.

 

[Deleted member 12951]

If the truck was tuned at 5K then returned to stock ,Ford can still see in the history and other places that it was once modified but the good thing is they can also see that it was modified and returned to stock then driven 50K after that ,so the chance of a tune messing up your truck would be real hard for them to prove.

Thanks., I had no idea that it actually shows them how long in time and miles when it was last tuned. I've run my tune for 10k miles with 5 star and SVC at 5k miles. I also have the Ford Premium ESP for 125k/7yrs. I like the tune as it does make a difference but not that much to justify a voided warranty. I figured once tuned then always tuned in a dealers eyes.

Guess I have something to put in the garage sale section now for the cheap.....

 

[RaptorFlipper]

Here's the quick skinny on tunes from someone who has done a bunch. I did my first tune(5* 93 perf) with 500 miles on my new raptor. Tunes are great if you wanted improved performance shifting, throttle response, etc. You will be amazed at the difference, especially if you do other bolt ons like exhaust, CAI, Etc. If you really want to be amazed, get a supercharger! All these things COULD void your warranty. There is no blanket answer here. The dealers can tell for sure. But they are not going to not fix your electrical issue with the windows for example because you are running an aftermarket tune. Unless they are just being ********. It really depends on your relationship with your dealer and their reputation for being honest and trustworthy. Personally I would never let any dealership even touch my truck after purchase because most of them do not have a clue what they are doing and I don't want some 24 year old just out of tech school touching my truck. Face it, the best mechanics/techs in the business DO NOT work for Ford at a dealership. These are specialty trucks, and should be treated as such. Read this forum: There are a ton of guys running tunes on here and very few have had issues. And if you go with 5 star or SVC who are the best out there, if there is a problem, they will fix it. Please understand this truck can do some amazing stuff, but any tune from the factory is going to suck. Period. My factory tune sucked, and my factory whipple tune was even worse. But these companies have to protect themselves from every ******* who cant drive and buys these trucks. I do not really blame them.

Bottom line: If you want to really unlock these trucks potential on and off road. Modify with high quality parts and get a tune. You wont be disappointed. If you are scared of something breaking, just do it at 36k miles, when the warranty is up. You sure will be missing out until then.

---------- Post added at 07:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:24 PM ----------

Forgot to mention JDM tunes are great as well. Ran that one too. They know their stuff.

 

[QTX]

I was wondering about the tuners. About how many people are running these?

 

[MTF]

I would say just about everybody on here, or at least 95% of the 16,977 members.

 

[JimIII@JDM]

Tuning is probably the first modification that should be performed to give your truck some extra kick ass! The Exhaust is sound worthy, a Cold air intake doesn't really prove much unless it's paired with a good tune. So the Base, your core of performance is a good custom tune. Now there are several good choices for the Raptor Community. Our company JDM Engineering has been tuning Ford vehicles since the Mid 90's using custom tuning software. We were the very first SCT dealer when Chris Johnson formed SCT in 2004. We've been tuning the Ford Raptor since Day 1. We have built over 1,000 Raptor files since that time. With that experience we provide some of the best custom tuning there is to offer! If you have any questions regarding custom tuning your Raptor please call us at 732-780-0770 or Visit our website Ford Raptor-Mustang-Shelby GT500-F-150 Performance Parts & Tuning-JDM Engineering

JimIII@JDM